Older Brother
by White Angel of Auralon
Summary: Something went different in 1981. There was a sacrifice, there was confusion, there was grief for the loss of life. But there was also a job given to a special boy. And he would not fail to protect his little brother.
1. A Different Start

**Hi, everybody.**

 **Merry Christmas to all of you. I'm happy that I managed to get my annual Christmas Story ready for posting, despite my illness. Thanks to everybody that wished me well, I really appreciate that.**

 **As usual, I own nothing of the Harry Potter universe, JKR does.**

 **Now happy reading.**

* * *

 **A Different Start**

James and Lily Potter stormed back into their house in Godric's Hollow. The alarms had gone off when they had been at St. Mungo's, fighting Death Eaters that had attacked the hospital around eight at this Hallowe'en. They were scared out of their wits for their two sons, Harry and Aaron. Harry was just four and Aaron one year old. Harry had been born just after they had finished their sixth year at Hogwarts. They had been careless in a passionate night after a Quidditch match victory party in the Gryffindor common room and Harry had been the result. He had been born 31st July 1977. They had been really grateful that James' parents and Dumbledore were so cooperative. Dumbledore had equipped them both with a portkey so that they could return to Potter Manor each day to be with Harry after school. At least for the months till May when they had been too busy with NEWT preparations.

Lily had felt like a horrible mother, but Dorea Potter had calmed her future daughter-in-law down and assured her that Harry was well-cared for with his grandparents and they came to the manor each weekend. James and Lily had married just a week after graduating with Sirius Black, James best friend, being James' best man and Mary McDonald being Lily's bridesmaid. Ironically also at the end of July, barely on 30th July 1980, ten seconds later and he would have shared his birthday with his older brother, Aaron Potter had been born. But the life of their family was overshadowed by a prophecy that could mean both of their sons or Neville Longbottom, the son of dear friends of them.

Tonight, during an Order meeting, they had got a call that St. Mungo's was attacked. Thinking that their sons were safe with Dorea and Charlus Potter at the cottage, which was under the fidelius charm, James and Lily had gone with the other Order members to protect the people at the hospital. Really, for the Death Eaters to sink that low was a new devastating hit in this terrible war. But when the alarm that James and Lily always carried with them went off, they knew that their sons were in danger.

Now they entered the nursery where they found Harry lying on the ground, next to Dorea. They feared the worst after already having found Charlus dead downstairs, the signs of a hard fight everywhere. Despite being over eighty years old, Charlus Potter wasn't an opponent which you underestimated in a duel. He had been a top notch hit wizard when he had been younger. James frantically checked his mother, only to find her having been killed by the killing curse. Aaron was wailing and Lily went to calm him down. James checked Harry and was never as relieved as when he found that while his son was currently weak, he was breathing. Lily cleaned Aaron's forehead from the blood that she found there and was greeted by the sight of a lightning bolt shaped wound.

James held his older son while weeping over the loss of his parents. Lily could only try to console him, with tears also running down her cheeks.

Soon after them Dumbledore appeared. He looked over the scene and found a pile of robes together with Voldemort's wand. When he looked at Aaron, he noticed the wound and a calculating smile came to his face. He did a few charms to check the magical residue in the room.

"James, Lily, it seems as if Aaron has defeated Voldemort," Dumbledore told them.

"What?" James asked holding Harry in his arms.

"Over there is Voldemort's wand and his robes. But I fear, as there is no body, he will return. But Aaron has been marked by Voldemort, just as the prophecy said. He is the Boy-Who-Lived," Dumbledore announced.

"What do you mean, he isn't dead? How can you cheat death?" James wanted to know.

"The result of my investigative charms told me that two killing curses were fired in this room and the cut on Aaron's head shows that he has been hit by one of them, but that it was deflected somehow. I think it could have happened that Dorea had something to do with it. There also are traces of a sacrificing ritual," Dumbledore explained, "We need to make sure that Aaron will be ready when Voldemort comes back."

"What do you suggest, Albus?" Lily asked, scared for her baby.

"As soon as Aaron is old enough, you should start training him. Perhaps you should also keep him out of the public. As soon as people find out that Aaron defeated Voldemort, they will worship him," The old headmaster advised.

"And Harry?" James asked.

"Well, with as much training as Aaron will need, you will probably be too busy to properly take care of him. Perhaps your sister, Lily," Dumbledore suggested, only to be interrupted by the furious mother.

"Are you out of your mind, Albus? Petunia hates magic! I will never let my son live with her and her bigoted husband. Forget it! And why wouldn't we be able to properly take care of both of our sons? We have managed well enough so far. We will simply train both and any children we might have in the future to be ready. And Harry has always looked out for Aaron!" She yelled at Dumbledore.

"Lily is absolutely right, Albus. I won't send my son away, who incidentally is also my heir, just because it might be a bit inconvenient for us; especially not to those despicable people. They would abuse him for being a wizard. No, I will take my family back to Potter Manor, activate the oldest wards we have there and teach my sons how to properly defend themselves as soon as I think that they are old enough!" James stated fiercely, "Any ideas how long Voldemort could need to get a body back if you say he isn't dead?"

"It's impossible to say. It could be a few months; it could also be many years. We have information that he told his followers that he had found a way to become immortal. As we don't have a body to show, I think it is possible that his boasts stemmed from the truth," Dumbledore commented, frowning that his ideas were smashed down by the Potters.

"Well, then we will see how long we have. I will do my best to ensure that all the Death Eaters are rounded up by the Ministry. I can return to my position with the aurors in a week or so," James declared, "I first need to organize my parents' funeral and the move to the manor."

Dumbledore had no other choice than nodding. At the moment, neither Potter would be swayed to follow his plans. Well, he had a minister to inform of the defeat of Voldemort at the hands of Aaron Potter. He would find a way to turn this to his advantage. James and Lily were currently stricken with grief and naturally wanted to keep their family close. Once the immediate grief was dealt with they would see things his way he was sure. He should have probably considered that when he made his suggestions. And once the two Potters would have calmed down and saw reason, Aaron Potter would be trained the way he, Albus Dumbledore favoured. What consequence had Harry Potter in the plans for the Greater Good?

* * *

 **Time Skip 1988**

The Potter family was currently doing their shopping in Diagon Alley. Since their son Aaron had become the Boy-Who-Lived nearly seven years ago, life for them had changed. They had moved from their cottage in Godric's Hollow to Potter Manor in Ceredigion. The Ancient manor had some of the best wards there were in the wizarding world. Charlus and Dorea Potter had been buried at the family graveyard on the grounds like all the other members of the Potter family before them. The Potters counted six heads now. Harry, the oldest son, was eleven and would start Hogwarts this year. It was the reason for this trip. They were getting his school supplies. Aaron, the second oldest, was eight and admired his big brother greatly.

Whenever Aaron needed help, for which he didn't want to ask his parents, he went to Harry. And Harry would be there and help Aaron. As he would for the youngest two, the twins Jasmine and Dahlia Potter. The two girls were nearly six years old and mischievous like their father. Harry was more like his mother with his father's talent and love for playing Quidditch, even if Harry preferred playing seeker over being chaser. That was more Aaron's position. Harry looked like his father, but had his mother's eyes. Aaron too had his father's hair and his mother's eyes, but his face looked more like his mother's. Jasmine and Dahlia had their mother's red hair and her eyes, but the hair was typical Potter messy. Their faces resembled more their father's. All Potter children were grateful to not have inherited their father's bad sight. Perhaps it had something to do with them all getting their eyes from their mother.

The press had tried to follow the Potter family, attempting to get some good shots of the Boy-Who-Lived, but James had managed to get rid of them by threatening to call the aurors for harassment of his family. After the numerous law cases, which the Potters had all won, on the matter, no reporter that wanted to keep his job would dare to go against James Potter after he had given a warning. Those that had been lucky enough to get a shot would use it to write a small article about the Potters going school shopping. Nothing really interesting, but the population of wizarding Britain seemed to have nothing better to talk about than Aaron Potter.

Just that Aaron Potter didn't like the press at all and found all the reporters more than scary. He normally hid behind Harry when he felt them closing in on him. And Harry had perfected the Lily Potter glare. Those that knew what was good for them backed away if they saw either Harry or his mother glare like that.

Lily Potter had gained a fearsome reputation. When the Ministry had rounded up the remaining Death Eaters, she had single-handedly defeated Voldemort's best lieutenant Bellatrix Lestrange, when Bellatrix, her husband, his brother and Barty Crouch junior had tried to get information on Voldemort's whereabouts from Alice and Frank Longbottom. Well, the attempt had failed, as the Lestranges and Crouch hadn't expected more people than the Longbottoms when they had attacked. With one-on-one situations, they were overpowered and three of them now sat at Azkaban.

Bellatrix hadn't survived her injuries long enough despite treatment. While the Ministry hadn't been happy about giving the high reward for her capture to a muggleborn witch, they didn't have a choice. Lily had invested that money well, next to also taking care of making sure that the rest of the Potter fortune multiplied over the years. And anybody who posed a threat to her children learned to fear for his life. Lily Potter was a legend by now for her fiery temperament and her skill. And Harry was his mother's son from his character. He always looked out for others, but he could explode badly if he was wronged or his friends hurt.

With all the attention that Aaron got, some might now think that the other Potter children might be neglected over the famous member of their family, but neither Lily nor James wanted anything to do with the circus that was made around Aaron. When James had been younger, he might have wanted the attention, but the price, at which this fame for his family had come, had been much too high. One of his best friends, Peter Pettigrew, had sold them out to Voldemort, causing the death of his parents. James had had a really hard year after his parents had died. He had to simultaneously deal with taking over as Earl of Ceredigion for his father in the Wizengamot, making sure that the Wizengamot didn't let the Death Eaters get away through bribery and the Imperius defence and raise two sons. Lily had decided to postpone her masteries in Potions and Charms to let James first get his part organized. She stayed at home and took care of the boys and the family finances. James simply didn't have the time.

James had quit his job with the aurors in 1986 when nearly all Death Eaters had been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned. His best friend Sirius Black though had stayed at the auror office and was right now the head auror, despite his young age. He had been chosen over Rufus Scrimgeour when the former head auror Amelia Bones had been promoted to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Sirius simply had the better reputation and success rate than the older Scrimgeour. On top, he was more popular with the other aurors.

By now James had masteries in Transfiguration and Ancient Runes, both talents that ran in the Potter family, while Lily had finished her masteries in Charms and Potions from home. Her two masters had been very understanding over her situation and given her the chance to do her apprenticeship part-time from 1982 on. She had finished in 1985, thanks to a lot of friends babysitting when it was necessary. James had started a small company with Lily that offered several things. Wards, potions, charmed items to ease everyday life, all tested in the Potter and Black families before putting them up for sale, and runic engravings for several things.

The company was doing well and the Potter parents could produce the things they sold from their home. It had the useful side effect that by now Harry Potter had a better understanding of Potions and Runes than most fourth-year students at Hogwarts. Aaron had only been allowed in his mother's laboratory one month ago. The twins were forbidden anywhere near the lab. Harry was also well-versed in Defence Against the Dark Arts. While he had only been given a training wand last summer, he could already use some easy spells to unsettle an opponent to get away. He had started his education in magic when he was eight years old, just like Aaron was now. James and Lily didn't want to overdo things too early on, so the children had only learned theoretical skills about magical subjects and practiced writing with a quill.

The children regularly met with the Black and Longbottom kids. Sirius Black had married in 1984 and by now had two children. A son called Aries who was six and would be in the same year as the twins, and a daughter called Juno who was three. His wife Claire, a witch he had met on a holiday in France and fallen hard for, was currently pregnant with their third child. Frank and Alice Longbottom had two sons and a daughter, Neville was born on the same day as Aaron, they had had many joined birthday parties over the years, switching from Potter Manor to Longbottom Manor over the years, Jason was seven and Stephanie was four. Harry meanwhile had often played with Cedric Diggory, whose mother had been friends with Lily during their Hogwarts years. Chiana Diggory didn't think too highly of the parenting style of Molly Weasley, thus, despite the Diggorys living in the same village as the Weasleys, and Percy and the twins Fred and George only being a year older or younger than Cedric respectively, Cedric had flooed over to the Potters more often than meeting his village neighbours.

Harry was really excited. His letter had arrived a week before his birthday and of course he had written back that he accepted his place at Hogwarts. His parents had been really proud of him and Lily had cooked his favourite food that evening before promising that they would go shopping for his school things the day after his birthday. Convincing the elves to let her cook had been difficult, but, by promising them to not cook until Christmas, she got the kitchen for herself. House elves were very protective over their jobs. She had had to learn that, while the bond was similar to a slave bond if the elf was mistreated, the elves got their magic from the family they were bonded to. So she, albeit grudgingly, accepted it. It didn't stop her from trying to get laws passed that forbid elf abuse.

Until now, they had gone to Gringotts to get money for shopping from the family vault, got his cauldron and potion ingredients and bought a telescope. Next on their list were school robes. At Madam Malkin's Lily left with the younger kids to go and get ice-cream, while Harry was fitted with James waiting for him. They joked around what kind of great pranks Harry could pull once at Hogwarts and how he would break the record for becoming the youngest player to get onto a house team.

After that they went to meet the rest of the family at the bookstore, where Harry got the set of books he needed plus some others that interested him. While Potter Manor had a great library, James and Lily also used the opportunity to see if there was something new that would make a good addition to the library. But besides a new book of that fool Lockhart and a Potions book that Lily herself had authored, there was nothing that had come in since their last visit.

Finally, they went to Ollivander's to get Harry's wand. Harry was really excited to finally get his own first wand.

"Ah, Mr Potter, I expected to see you soon. James Potter, Mahogany, thirteen and a half inches, stiff, good for Transfiguration and Lily Potter, willow, ten and three quarter inches, reasonably swishy, great for Charms," Mr Ollivander greeted the family.

"Hello, Mr Ollivander," James greeted, grinning at the man.

"I trust your wands are still working fine," Ollivander mentioned, addressing the parents and got two nods.

"Then let's see what we can do four young Mr Potter. Which arm is your wand arm?" Ollivander asked.

"My right," Harry answered.

Ollivander started to let a tape measure fly around Harry, which took measures of basically everything. His arm, his height, his shoulders and even his nostrils.

"That will be enough," Ollivander told the tape which fell to the ground, "Now, try this one Mr Potter, birchwood with dragon heartstring," Harry was handed a wand and swished it, only to have a window break. "A definite no," Ollivander said, snatching the wand out of Harry's hand and handing him the next one, "Ebony with unicorn hair, ten inches, flexible," Ollivander continued, but snatched the wand out of Harry's hand before he had even swished it.

The searching went on and on for over two hours and Harry felt like testing every single wand in the shop. Even the curious combination of Holly and phoenix feather didn't seem to like him. Finally, after Ollivander had disappeared deep into his storage, he came back with a dusty box.

"Let's see if this one might work. I never found a match for it, for all the sixty years that I have had it. It is one of my earliest works," Ollivander informed them, "I never again used that kind of combination; it's too difficult to match such a pesky core, no matter how powerful this wand is."

James and Lily raised their eyebrows hearing that. Harry took the wand and felt himself connecting with it immediately. He waved the wand and a shower of silver sparks came out of it.

"Oh, bravo, I didn't think to ever match this wand!" Ollivander exclaimed happily, "White ash with a feather of a moon owl, eleven inches, slightly flexible. How really curious. I think we can expect great things from you, Mr Potter. A moon owl is one of the rarest magical creatures there is and I was very lucky to be granted this particular feather. A being determined to not let darkness rule and always mysterious. I had wondered why a moon owl would donate a feather, but probably it was meant to become the core of your wand."

Harry happily held his wand and his father bought him a wand holster to safely store the wand. Being an ex-auror he knew how important proper wand-safety was. They paid eight galleons and thirteen sickles for the wand and left the shop. Last on their list was Eeylops Owl Emporium to get Harry an owl as he had chosen that as his pet. Inside the shop, they walked through the rows with different kinds of owls on each side. Harry was like in trance. He seemed to know exactly which owl was meant to be his. In the end, he came to a stop in front of a beautiful white snowy owl with amber eyes.

"This is the one," He declared. He could feel a bond with this owl.

Ignoring the warning that this particular owl was incredibly picky and had never accepted any of the ones that wanted to buy her, Harry held his hand into the cage and to the astonishment of the shop assistant she only gently nibbled on Harry's finger. So, Harry got his owl, a perch and owl treats for her.

* * *

Harry was excited about his first trip to Hogwarts. He had arranged with Cedric to meet him at the platform to look for a compartment together. They also wanted to see if they could meet some other first-years during the ride. Harry had some games packed in his backpack that his father had created for the family business. So, the last night Harry hadn't slept that much. In the morning, he ate breakfast and stored the lunch packet that Tobi, the chef of the kitchen, had prepared for him to eat during the journey. The family flooed to King's Cross station, there was an area for the arrival, as many families chose to travel here by floo, you simply had to get a time when you could floo, as organizing that many families was a highly strenuous affair for the Ministry every year.

Thankfully there were ten fireplaces, so the arrivals didn't cause a chaos. The Potters walked through the barrier, why they couldn't integrate the floos on the inside of the platform nobody really understood, but the Ministry had declared it couldn't be done otherwise. Hence why there was a warded area for the floo arrivals and the families then had to make the way to the platform. On the platform, the Diggorys were already waiting, as were Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, James' best friends, to wish their godson and pseudo nephew the best for his first ride on the Hogwarts Express.

Once they had exchanged greetings with each other, James and Amos helped Harry and Cedric to get their trunks onto the train. Despite featherlight charms on the trunks, they were still unhandy, especially for eleven-year-old children. They put the trunks into an empty compartment and then went back outside to say goodbye to their family. While Lily told Harry to pay attention in his classes and be nice to the other children, the three marauders told Harry and Cedric to have fun and play some awesome pranks when they thought that Lily didn't hear them. None of them wanted to earn Lily's ire. It normally was unhealthy.

Harry and Cedric grinned at each other. While they weren't big on playing pranks, they both were more interested in playing Quidditch, they promised to have more than enough fun. Soon the whistle blew, telling the families that it was time for the students to board the train. Last good-byes were exchanged and Harry promised Aaron, Jasmine and Dahlia to write regularly.

* * *

Cedric and Harry were walking, Harry in front of Cedric, down the way from the door of the chamber they had waited in towards the head table. Over them were hundreds of floating candles spending light to the Great Hall. Both were a bit nervous. Harry wanted to make his family proud by being sorted into Gryffindor, like his father and mother before him. Cedric just wanted to avoid Slytherin at all cost. Finally, when all the first-years were at the front, the Sorting Hat started singing a song describing the values of each of the four houses. The older students clapped and cheered for the Hat when it finished and then the sorting started. Cedric was one of the first new students to be sorted. Harry noticed that there weren't many students this year. Only about thirty. He had known that many families didn't want to have children during the war, but he hadn't realized what that meant for Hogwarts.

Cedric was sorted into Hufflepuff after a few seconds. Harry thought that it fit his best friend perfectly. You couldn't find a more loyal friend than Cedric Diggory. Harry was called and some whispered about him being the brother to the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry could only roll his eyes. Wizards were really stupid. As if Aaron alone would have been able to defeat Voldemort. No, he had seen that something had happened when his granny had stood between Voldemort, Harry and Aaron that night. He couldn't remember it well, but there was something like a light that had flown into them and before Voldemort had come into Aaron's room granny had performed a spell on both of them, using some runes drawn with her wand. He didn't really know what it was and neither did his parents when he told them, after he had woken up again.

Harry sat down on the stool and Professor McGonagall put the hat on his head.

"Ah, the first of the new Potter batch. Let me see, a good mind, great ambition, but my, you have courage in spades. Yes, you will do perfectly in GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat yelled the last part and Harry went over to the table under the red and gold banners.

He looked forward to writing home tomorrow to tell his family where he had been sorted.

* * *

 **And this was the start of the story. Until tomorrow.**


	2. Starting the Game

**Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for the reviews for the first chapter. Now on with the second.**

* * *

 **Starting the Game**

Albus Dumbledore didn't like one bit how things were going. It had now been three years since Harry Potter had arrived at Hogwarts. This year Aaron Potter would finally start school, but he had had no contact with the boy, thanks to his parents blocking any attempt to interfere how they raised their children. Harry Potter had proven time and again his incredible talent in magic. There wasn't one class the boy didn't excel at; even in History of Magic he was top of his class. Harry was clearly his mother's son, but he had also inherited a lot of his father James besides his looks.

In his first year, he had simply shown up at the Quidditch try-outs of Gryffindor, stating that there wasn't a single rule that forbid a first-year to try out for the team, first-years were only not allowed their own brooms. Thus, he had borrowed the broom of Nymphadora Tonks, his cousin, and had out flown the competition. There had been nobody that had any complaints about Harry Potter winning the seeker spot for the Gryffindor team, especially not as Charlie Weasley had graduated the year before and Gryffindor needed a new seeker. After making the team, an exception of the no broom rule that was written in the Hogwarts Charta came to pass, meaning that every player for a house's sports team was entitled his own training equipment. That included a broom, even if Harry Potter was only a first-year.

After Lily had sent a vicious howler to Severus Snape to stop bullying her son over a petty old school grudge, or she would personally deal with him, Harry had been left alone by the Potions teacher. While Severus still wasn't the best teacher, he didn't dare directly bully any student after the howler, as Lily's temper was widely known and feared. She was the witch that had killed Bellatrix Lestrange and was not to be trifled with. And it had already been a battle and a half to install Severus as a teacher at Hogwarts at all, what with James' vendetta against all Death Eaters. Lily's very pointy howler had caused new waves, which forced him to reign Severus in, even if he feared it would worsen his chances to become a spy again, once Voldemort returned.

But Lily, when he had tried talking to her about the need of Severus being seen as favouring the purebloods in Slytherin and especially the children of those that had supported Voldemort's cause, she had been utterly unreasonable and had declared that no possible need to spy outweighed the right of the hundreds of students of Hogwarts for a quality education in a core subject. With the backing of James, Sirius and Frank, it was better to retreat on the matter, as the three wizards had seats on the Wizengamot and having them against his plans openly wasn't smart. Better retreat on a less important issue. He had hoped that he could, over time, regain some of the lost trust from the powerful and influential group, by using Harry as a medium. He didn't have access to Aaron after all, so perhaps influencing his brother to be more open could have been the key to the Potters.

All the teachers sang praises about Harry's abilities and how he was still polite. Even if there was a mischievous streak in the boy. Some of the pranks that were pulled he suspected Harry had been responsible for, but nobody could prove anything, so he got away with it.

Then, in Harry's second year, the Weasley twins Fred and George arrived at Hogwarts and they and Harry hit it off immediately. With Cedric Diggory as the fourth one, it was like seeing the Marauders again. Harry was the leader with Cedric as his best friend and the twins were another pair that understood each other blindly. Thanks to Harry's smarts, the group didn't get caught often. And Harry had a knack for talking himself out of trouble. And their pranks never went too far, so nobody could say they were bullying others, even if Severus insisted that Harry was as bad as his father.

In Harry's third year he took Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures as his electives. He clearly showed the Potter gift with Runes and Bathsheba was as taken with the boy as the other teachers beside Severus, even if even he couldn't pretend that Harry wasn't good at Potions. That year the twins joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Cedric the Hufflepuff team. The twins played beater while Cedric was seeker like Harry. Harry seemed to be really happy to have friendly competitions with his best friend. The other teams in the school liked the oldest Potter's talent a lot less. Harry had managed to win Gryffindor the Cup all three years that he had been at school.

Now, if Albus had had his will, Aaron Potter would have grown up either isolated from the magical world or believing that Albus Dumbledore couldn't do wrong. But thanks to Lily and James taking offense to the suggestion to send Harry away, or even just concentrate on Aaron's education, he hadn't seen the boy since he was a baby. No, James, Sirius and Remus had been the major influences in the boy's life, with some influence of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Next to Harry Potter of course. From what he had heard, Aaron looked up to his older brother. Aaron was a bit shy, much like his best friend Neville Longbottom. Where Harry was outgoing and had an easy time making new friends, Aaron needed time to get to know people to trust them. If he did, he was a great friend and fun to be around.

At least that was what Molly Weasley could tell him. Her son Ron had tried to befriend Aaron, but had gone about it the wrong way and Aaron didn't like fangirls at all, so he found the adoration Ginny Weasley showed more than creepy. Molly's information was mostly second hand from what she had heard the twins tell at home. It didn't make planning how to direct Aaron on the path to his destiny any easier. Especially as Harry Potter had a giant protective streak. He would never allow for his brother to be put in danger if he could prevent it. Thanks to Harry, having Aaron go through the test he had designed would be really hard to do.

And Harry didn't seem to be as taken with the myth of Albus' infallibility as other students from wizarding families. Harry took everything others said with a grain of salt, analysed the information he got and made his own decisions based on what he had concluded. So far it had served him well. The boy seemed to be a natural leader. He had the skill, the charisma and the smarts to attract people and if he took the lead in something, he rarely led those that followed him astray. It was always difficult to deal with such a person.

And he had tried over the years to entice the boy to his cause. He had tried to make it look as if the boy got special treatment over the Quidditch Team permission, but as Harry could point out, it was just application of an old rule. No matter if nearly forgotten or not. And as the group didn't get into as much bad trouble as the one of Harry's father, he couldn't play the 'nice fun-loving headmaster who forgives pranks' card either. There was no way to spy on the boy either, as, while the Weasleys were generally fully on his side, the twins had their own heads and refused to give up any confidential information on Harry and they had been taught occlumency as well. Probably Harry had done so, as it was known that Blacks, and James' mother had been a Black, taught their children very early on how to protect their minds.

And then there was this annoying distrust that Harry only barely managed to conceal. He didn't trust him like he should. He kept his distance and as long as the boy didn't do anything that absolutely required his involvement as the headmaster, he couldn't simply call him into his office. James and especially Lily would storm to the castle to protest that treatment, and it would be counterproductive.

Ollivander had written him that the second feather from Fawkes was now the core of Aaron's wand. That proved, in his eyes, Aaron's destiny. Just how to get the boy into the direction was the question.

* * *

Aaron looked around at King's Cross nervously. Of course, he had been here the previous years when they had seen Harry off to Hogwarts. But now he would go himself and learn how to use his magic fully. He was grateful that Neville was starting too, so he would have at least one friend already that he knew. He was envious of Harry's ability to make friends so easily. Harry had assured him that he would find more friends too. There had to be more people that were able to ignore the scar on his forehead and see Aaron. A nice, but a bit shy boy, who was nervous leaving his home for months on end for the first time. Harry's advice had been to look for a compartment with Neville and if possible get to know some other first-years. The long train ride was a good opportunity to meet more people.

Aaron hoped that Harry was right. Well, normally he could believe his brother's advice. He looked at his bother and saw him stroking the silver feathers of his familiar Hedwig. It had been a big surprise for the Potters when Harry's snowy owl turned out to be a real moon owl during the first full moon that she had been living with them at Potter manor. A bonded moon owl was unheard of; even all research that his mother had done over historic texts hadn't brought up anything. Therefore, Harry had taken a trial and error approach with Hedwig. He had by now figured out how to telepathically speak to her. If you believed Harry, Hedwig was quite vain and proud, but completely loyal. She also had no reservations to hit Harry over the head with her wing when he was an idiot. Well, sometimes Harry needed to be brought back to earth. He was so talented that he might get a big head.

He would never intentionally hurt anybody, but with Hedwig keeping him grounded, there was less danger of it happening unintentionally. Right then, Aaron saw the Longbottoms come in through the barrier. Neville looked a lot like his mother Alice with his father's blond hair. He walked over to greet his best friend. Neville too looked glad to see Aaron and soon the two were talking about the things they would finally be allowed to do. While their families had trained them in basics of defence, both muggle and magical, they weren't very advanced with spells. What they had learned had been channelling their magic through training wands, which would make learning real spells with their own wands much easier.

It was the way the Potters had always trained their children and it had proven to be a good way. Neville had simply been included in the training, as the Potters and the Longbottoms were good friends. The same had been true for Cedric when Harry was ten. Harry was already wearing his robes with his Quidditch Captain badge pinned on it. It had been a major surprise when, with Harry's Hogwarts letter, he had got the badge. The previous captain had graduated last year, but Harry had thought that Oliver Wood, the team's keeper, who was a fifth year, would get the badge, thanks to being a year older than Harry. But then again, he had only been on the team for two years while Harry had been for three years and was a better leader. Well, Aaron would see if he could try out for the team. He had decided to first wait how the first two weeks went and then decide if he could take the work and the team practice simultaneously. It would be totally different at Hogwarts than at home.

On top of that he feared that many students would make a big deal about him being the Boy-Who-Lived. Until now, his parents had managed to limit the bothering, but what would happen at Hogwarts? At least he knew that Harry would do his best to get the other students to behave. Then he and Neville went onto the train to store their things in a compartment with their fathers' help. The compartment was next to the one that Harry and Cedric had chosen, so, if there was a problem, the older boys could help, otherwise they could be for themselves. Aaron also didn't want to look like he needed his older brother for everything.

Aaron and Neville put their pets into the compartment and then closed the door so that they wouldn't escape accidentally. Aaron had chosen a Russian Blue cat, which he had named Cleo, much to his uncle Sirius' horror, the dog animagus didn't get along with cats, and Neville had a brown owl called Cesar. They had thought it was funny to name them after the historical figures. When they were outside again, they said goodbye to their families and honorary uncles, who had come, like every year, to see the kids off to Hogwarts. They were reminded to write regularly and to not break the school rules (too often that was) and do well in their classes. Too early the whistle blew and Harry, Aaron and Neville climbed into the train. Harry left Neville and Aaron in their compartment and went to sit with his friends.

* * *

A bit into the journey, when Harry, Cedric, Fred, George and their friend Lee Jordan were playing poker, thanks to his mother Harry knew a lot of muggle games, they heard a small commotion in the neighbour apartment. When the noise got louder, Harry decided to check. He walked over and saw Aaron and Neville glaring at a blond boy who had two bigger boys backing him up behind him. Behind Aaron and Neville were a brown-haired boy and a bushy haired girl that looked confused.

"Apologize at once, Malfoy!" Aaron demanded.

"Why should I, Potter? They are mudbloods," Draco Malfoy, as Harry now identified him, said.

Only to be surprisingly hit with a soap charm that made him spit soap bubbles. When he turned around he looked into the glowing, furious green eyes of Harry Potter and had a hard time not wetting himself. That boy was scary in his opinion. Especially as Draco Malfoy knew all about how Lily Potter, who Harry got his eyes and glare from, had killed his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange.

"So, your mother didn't teach you proper manners, Malfoy. Let's see how long it will take for you to understand that talking like that won't win you any points in anybody's book," Harry stated dangerously, "This time, let the charm to wash your mouth after using such a dirty word be a lesson. Next time I won't be so nice. And if I ever hear you using that word again, you will be reported to all the heads of the houses and lose masses of house-points. While some others might be negligent with this, I am not, and as Quidditch Captain I have the same rights as a prefect, even if I am only in fourth year. I can deduct points and I can hand out detention if justified. And using that word is such a case. No matter who your father is and how he got away from being pursued for his involvement in the war, nothing will get you out of this."

Aaron had never seen his older brother like this. Sure, he too was really angry that Malfoy had used that word, after all, his mother was a muggleborn witch, but to see just how much power Harry showed was incredible. He knew of course how Lucius Malfoy had hidden in France with his family on an older estate of his family, claiming that his business demanded his presence in France, which was why he had slipped through the net of the aurors that had rounded up the Death Eaters after the war. The Malfoys had only returned in 1988 when there hadn't been all-out raids on suspected Death Eaters and Malfoy had got away saying he had been imperiused just a few days after Voldemort's fall.

Aaron's Dad had ranted a lot when he heard it after returning to his job as an auror and he and Sirius had made sure that no other Death Eaters were able to use that excuse in combination with a good amount of gold anymore. Use of veritaserum was made mandatory in all trials that dealt with suspicion of being a Death Eater, after James had used the fame Aaron had gained to bully the Wizengamot into agreeing to that practice. Many 'imperiused' Death Eaters had gone to Azkaban after that and James Potter had been seen as a hero for that law.

The three boys quickly ran away from Harry's glare.

"I'm sorry that you had to see the dark side of our society on your first trip to Hogwarts," Harry addressed the two confused kids, "I'm Harry Potter, Aaron's older brother. If those gits ever bother you again, come and tell me and I will put an end to it. Nothing justifies that behaviour and they should know it."

"Uh, nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Hermione Granger and this is Terry Boot. What did the word mean that Malfoy used? I never read about it in any of the books I read," The girl asked.

"It's an extremely nasty term for muggleborns. People that were raised in the darker families like Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, the three that were just here, believe that they are better than others just because they are what is called purebloods. It means that up to your great-grandparents each of your ancestors was a witch or a wizard. It's nonsense, but some families still believe in it. Your blood has nothing to do with your potential. Look at me; I'm a halfblood and still top of my year," Harry said smirking, "And my Mum is muggleborn and puts the fear of Morgana in every witch or wizard stupid enough to cross her after she defeated the top lieutenant of Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, single-handedly."

"Oh, okay," Hermione said, glad hearing that.

"Now, if anything happens, I'm next door. I have a poker match to win," Harry commented.

"Don't lose too much; you know what Mum thinks about your poker excesses," Aaron reminded him.

"Don't worry. I already won twenty sickles so far," Harry waved Aaron off and left the compartment and closed the door behind him.

"Wow, that's your big brother, Aaron?" Terry asked impressed, "He's so cool."

"Yes, I'm really glad that Harry is at Hogwarts in case I need some help. He has always been there for me and my two younger sisters if we didn't want to go to our parents," Aaron said smiling.

"Sounds like a really cool big brother," Hermione commented.

Aaron and Neville both nodded.

* * *

Back in Harry's compartment, he told the other four how he had dealt with the Malfoy brat and got tremendous laughter from his friends.

"Man, Harry, that is rich. Washing his mouth with soap," Fred chuckled.

"Could we replicate that on a bigger scale for a prank?" George suggested.

"Should be possible. A Potion that imitates the effect is easy to brew," Cedric said.

"We only need to make sure that Snape doesn't find out too early. I would also like to add a trigger. I mean, the lesson would be learned best if it activates if they say certain derogative words," Harry suggested.

"Hm, let us do some research when we are back. We would need a combination of Charms and Potions to make it efficient," Cedric commented.

The others nodded and continued their game.

* * *

Harry looked at the first-years that had just heard the song of the Sorting Hat. They looked truly relieved to only have to put on a hat. He grinned. He had never told Aaron how the sorting worked. It was after all tradition to only find out when the Hat sung its new song. And, contrary to Fred and George, he didn't rile his little brother up with horror stories of how it was done. He just smiled and told him he would find out soon enough. McGonagall started to call up one name after the other. Harry clapped loudly when one of the new first-years was sorted into Gryffindor. The girl that had been in Aaron's compartment was one of them and she looked really pleased with herself for getting into Gryffindor. Neville too went to Gryffindor. Then McGonagall called Aaron's name and whispers erupted. Really what was so special about Aaron coming to Hogwarts? It wasn't as if they hadn't all known that he would start this year.

Harry noticed that the Hat took its time for Aaron. Well, Harry could guess that it had more than one option for his brother, he strongly suspected Hufflepuff, then it called out Gryffindor and his table erupted in cheers and applause. Harry could only snort at this. They wouldn't win any favour with Aaron if they continued like this. He could see the pleased look on the headmaster's face. Harry's eyes narrowed. He had been warned by his parents to keep an eye out for Aaron not falling into any schemes that Dumbledore might come up with. The old man had tried time and again to get back into having a say in the Potters' lives. His parents had blocked every attempt, because Dumbledore was trying to manipulate Aaron. And over the three years he had been at Hogwarts, he had carefully avoided him getting close to himself as well. He wouldn't let him succeed now.

The announcements after the feast didn't do much for Harry's peace of mind as well. While Fred and George seemed to think that a dangerous corridor would be a great adventure, he feared that it was a scheme to involve his little brother. Well, not on his watch.

* * *

The next weeks went like they normally did at Hogwarts. The first-years got lost more than once on their way to classes, the fifth-years groaned over the amount of homework they got in their OWL year and even the fourth-years got a lot more homework than before. Harry could only shake his head over the new DADA teacher. He had now had three different ones before, but whoever thought that the former Muggle Studies teacher would make a good Defence instructor was out of his mind. While Quirrell had been fine two years ago, when he had sat at the head table during meals, Harry had never had him in class, as he didn't take Muggle Studies, now he was afraid of his own shadow, from what he told the classes he had had a bad run-in with a vampire. But something didn't seem right in Harry's opinion. He couldn't really tell what, but he would keep an eye on the man.

Next was that after the first-year Gryffindor-Slytherin flying lessons, whoever thought up that plan should be hit with stinging hexes all over his body for ten minutes to realize what a bad idea pairing the two rival houses in an unsafe class like that was, not that being in Potions with Slytherin was any better for Gryffindors, Ronald Weasley, Fred and George's next younger brother had taken the liberty to sign Aaron up for a midnight duel with Malfoy, who had taunted Aaron. Aaron didn't want to go, because he thought it was stupid, but Weasley had nagged and nagged that it was cowardly to not go to a duel.

Harry had then stepped in and told Ron that if Aaron himself hadn't agreed to a duel, he was not obliged to go and why he thought that he had the right to agree to a duel for Aaron. The red-haired boy had angrily stomped away and Fred and George had taken him aside to talk some sense into the rude boy. Aaron hadn't gone to the duel after that and the next morning Harry saw that Malfoy looked angry about something. Probably the whole duel had been a set-up to get Aaron in trouble. He would have to keep an eye on the blond. It seemed he wanted to create trouble for Aaron by any means.

Harry was glad that Aaron had more sense in the choice of his friends. He and Neville had taken Hermione Granger under their wing and explained to her how the wizarding world worked. They also still kept regular contact with Terry Boot in Ravenclaw, the boy that had been in their compartment on the train. Terry's best friend Anthony Goldstein could often be seen joining the four for studying in the library. Overall Harry had little reason to worry about his brother. He was happy about that, as he was busy enough training his team for the first Quidditch match of the season against Slytherin.

* * *

During the staff meeting in mid-October Dumbledore asked all the teachers about their impressions of the new first-years mainly. Otherwise he only wanted to know if there were problems with any of the older students.

"Well, I have no trouble with my new first-years. They enjoy learning magic and some look forward to seeing the first Quidditch matches. The team Mr Davies put together this year should be strong in the matches coming up," Professor Flitwick reported.

"Nothing out of the norm on my end either. They are sorting the pecking order and trying to establish themselves in powerful positions within Slytherin. The older Slytherins are making sure that the younger students behave," Professor Snape added.

"I had a case of homesickness in the first week, but it was settled already. The group has found into the routine well and my prefects are making sure that none of them are falling behind in their work. The house evenings that I hold once a month also help to let the new first-years feel at home," Professor Sprout gave her impression of her new batch.

"A slight problem with Ronald Weasley mouthing off too much, which grates on the nerves of the other first-years, but otherwise they are getting along well. No problems with the older students and Mr Potter put together a really strong team too. I am sure they will win me the Quidditch Cup again." Professor McGonagall stated smiling.

Dumbledore listened to this intently. He didn't like that the boy he thought he could use to get closer to Aaron Potter was alienating the rest of his year already. But there always was the problem of Harry Potter watching over his younger brother. It was obvious that Harry was making sure that Aaron didn't get into stupid trouble. But for his plan to work Aaron needed to be interested in the secret of the third-floor corridor. Well, there was still time. Perhaps he could use Hagrid to let a few hints fall over tea. He knew that Harry Potter was friendly with Hagrid and that he and his group were down at Hagrid's often, so he wouldn't stop Aaron from visiting too.

* * *

 **That's it for today, until tomorrow.**


	3. A Troll for Hallowe'en

**A Troll for Hallowe'en**

Harry sat with the twins and Lee at the Gryffindor table enjoying the Hallowe'en feast. He and his brother had been off to remember their grandparents' death for a while by the lake, but, as their parents told them often, they would have wanted them to enjoy the feast. Therefore, the brothers had compromised by holding a small remembrance ceremony each Hallowe'en for them and after that they enjoyed the Hallowe'en celebrations. Harry noticed that Aaron and Neville were glaring at Ron Weasley for some reason. He wondered what Fred and George's stupid younger brother had done this time to anger the two. Then he noticed that Hermione was absent.

"Do you have an idea where Hermione is?" Harry asked Lavender Brown, one of the first-year girls.

She was startled to be addressed by the popular Quidditch captain. Harry Potter was more or less the love interest of all girls fifth year and younger, with some also fawning over his best friend Cedric Diggory, and while he was nice to everybody who didn't do anything to him, it was rare that he spoke to the younger students outside of his brother's group of friends.

"Ron Weasley said some really hurtful things after Charms and she is in the girl's bathroom on the third floor, crying her eyes out. Parvati and I tried to get her out of there as did Aaron and Neville, but she wouldn't come," Lavender said and shot a glare at Ron.

Fred and George now looked serious for once.

"What did our idiot brother say to her?" Fred asked.

"I don't know the exact words, but it was something about being an insufferable know-it-all and that she had no place in the wizarding world with her attitude and being a muggleborn," Parvati now spoke up.

"That stupid little idiot! We will make sure he learns his lesson this time, Harry," George promised looking murderous.

"You better do. I am sick of hearing Aaron complain about Ron all the time. I don't know how he can be that idiotic. I mean, none of your other brothers is like that, even if Percy can be a pompous arse," Harry commented, having clashed with Percy on more than one occasion.

Their talk was cut short when Professor Quirrell came running into the Great Hall, shouting about a troll in the dungeons and fainting afterwards. Harry was on alarm. Hermione was out not knowing about the troll and the teachers were heading off already to face the troll. The prefects would be useless in this, as none of them could really deal with a troll. Well, he knew what to do.

"Parvati, which bathroom is Hermione exactly in?" Harry asked.

"The one close to the Charms classroom," She answered scared for her classmate.

"I will go get her. If I go now, I should reach her before the troll could even get there from the dungeons. You follow the others to the Gryffindor Common Room and don't worry about me. I know how to deal with a troll in case I might face it," Harry said and shot off towards the third floor.

He didn't see how Fred and George looked at each other nodding once promising themselves silently to use the time to seriously talk to Ron.

* * *

Harry sprinted down the corridors towards the girl's bathroom on the third floor close to the Charms classroom. He had to get Hermione to the Gryffindor Common Room and to safety before she could be in danger. He had a bad feeling about Quirrell being the one warning about the troll and so he wasn't that sure if the troll was really in the dungeons, especially as the headmaster's little trap was on the third floor. Harry had come to the conclusion that Quirrell was faking his stutter and was probably doing it to throw off suspicion. The most probable reason Harry had been able to come up with was whatever was hidden on the third floor. He finally reached the corridor where the bathroom was located and thankfully there was nobody here. He quickly opened the door to the bathroom and called out to Hermione.

"Hermione, you have to come out at once! A troll is loose at the castle and you need to follow me back to the common room!" Harry called out, stifling any protest directly.

Hermione came out of the stall she had been in with red eyes, looking scared.

"Don't worry, we will get back to the common room as fast as we can and should be able to avoid the troll altogether," Harry tried to assure the younger girl.

Sadly, Harry's hopes didn't come true, as, when they were at the exit of the corridor to the main staircase, they came across the troll. Hiding wasn't an option anymore, as the troll had seen them and was raising his club to attack. Harry wasn't having it.

"Hermione, retreat and give me some space. Trolls are resistant to spells thanks to their hide, but they have weaknesses to blunt trauma. They also suffer damage from elemental influence, so if you try to defend yourself, should it get past me, use incendio," Harry instructed her, knowing that the fire spell was the only elemental spell in the first-year spell book and that Hermione had learned them by heart already.

Hermione managed to stumble back a bit, her wand trembling in her hands. She watched Harry's stance changing. He looked ready to fight seriously. She had seen that once with her Dad who had been taking out a bandit that had threatened her Mum during a shopping trip. Her Dad practiced karate, she knew that and she had seen him train quite often and even spar with his club mates, but that one time his stance had been different. And Harry's was similar now. Then a strong magical aura started to come off of Harry. She was amazed. She hadn't thought that Aaron's older brother was that magically powerful.

Harry stared at the troll threateningly, trying to get it to retreat by intimidation only. Sadly, the troll was too stupid to take the warning and attacked. It was over quickly. Harry first deliberated the troll of its club with a simple levitation charm, then he animated the club inspired by the Muggle fairy tale of the Wishing Table, the Gold-Ass and the Cudgel in the Sack. The troll got intimately familiar with Harry's version of 'cudgel out of the sack' by being hit over and over with its own club until it fainted from all the harsh hits.

"Well, that's that," Harry commented looking down at the troll.

"Is it dead?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"No, just knocked out. They have hard heads. Killing a troll is difficult, that's why many use them to guard places. It's possible, but many wouldn't want to waste the magic to do so," Harry explained.

Then they heard running coming closer to them.

"Of course, they come when everything is over," Harry mumbled.

Harry and Hermione saw Professors McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore being the first ones appearing, followed by a trembling Quirrell.

"Why aren't you at your common room, Mr Potter, Ms Granger?" McGonagall asked.

"Hermione was crying in the bathroom closest to the Charms classroom, because one of her classmates insulted her in anger. I had overheard it during dinner and went to get her to the common room, as she didn't know about the troll. We sadly were intercepted by the troll, so I told Hermione to step back and fought it. You can see the result," Harry informed them.

"You want to tell us that a fourth-year was able to defeat a troll?" Snape sneered disbelievingly.

"I will gladly demonstrate the spell I used. Trolls are weak against blunt trauma and I animated the troll's club to hit it over the head over and over again. It should be knocked out for some hours," Harry said not backing down a bit.

"The troll's injuries confirm Harry's story, Severus," Dumbledore nodded. "It was hit with a heavy blunt object several times. Was it really necessary to use so much violence, Harry? And why didn't you ask a teacher for help?"

"I prefer getting away uninjured and I dislike violence, Professor. But if I can't avoid a fight like this time, because the troll had already seen us and was about to attack, I take out my opponent as quickly and effectively as possible. And pardon me if I say this, what spell would I have been able to use that could have taken down a troll less violently? Single stunners don't work, thanks to the magically resistant hide, elemental spells would have caused much more damage and shields don't hold at all," Harry stated, "And for your second question, you were all gone within a few seconds after telling us to go to the common rooms. Which teacher should I have asked?"

"He is right, Albus. Mr Potter, take twenty points for Gryffindor for outstanding performance under duress and helping a younger student to get out of danger. Now go back to your common room, your friends will be worried," McGonagall said and Harry nodded, leading Hermione away with his hand on her back.

* * *

The rumour mill was quick. The fact that Harry Potter had defeated a troll and saved a first-year quickly spread all over the school. The girls found it heroic; the boys couldn't help but grudgingly respect Harry's power. The Slytherins were contemplating how to get on his good side, because you didn't want to have a powerful wizard who could take down a twelve-foot troll down single-handedly against you. Many asked to hear how Harry had defeated the troll and only the muggleborns and some halfbloods understood the reference to the fairy tale Harry gave for the idea behind his spell. It led to some purebloods wanting to know more about the muggle world, even if for now it were only their children stories. Hermione asked her parents to send her a copy of the Brother Grimm Tales.

It was amusing that now in the evenings many students could be seen lying on the carpets of the Gryffindor Common Room, listening to another student reading out loud the fairy tales. Some were funny for them, some they could only shake their heads about. The muggleborns also explained how there was a moral in each story from which children learned, like not trusting strangers, how to outwit bad guys and so on. It soon was a loved tradition and Harry heard from Cedric that Hufflepuff too had taken it over. The house elves even supplied them with hot cocoa and biscuits for the 'Fairy Tale Hours' as they were called. Soon both magical and muggle children stories were read and the understanding from both sides grew, even if Slytherin didn't take up the reading sessions. It wasn't the pureblood way in the eyes of the older years. But many first to third-years had asked their classmates if they could get copies of some stories that they had heard others talking about.

Many students could be seen conversing what kind of curse it could have been that sent Sleeping Beauty into her one-hundred-year sleep, or how to enchant a house made of gingerbread. The teachers that overheard some of those questions could only chuckle and Professor Flitwick promised them to show them a few charms to build small gingerbread houses for Christmas, which was taken extremely well.

* * *

Harry prepped his team for the first match of the season against Slytherin. They were all good, they had numerous tactics to score points and Fred and George knew which Slytherin players they should knock out first. Harry's tactic was to prevent the Slytherins from cheating early on. The past three years had shown that Slytherin never played fair and if they were allowed to, they would injure the opposing players early on to have an easier time scoring. Well, this year they would get a nasty surprise. Gryffindor would play harder than ever before without resorting to cheating. They had more than enough talent to not need to do that.

But who said you couldn't turn cheating attempts around? Fred and George were instructed to keep a close eye on the bludgers and hold one ready for quick interference at all times. The twins had been over at Potter Manor a lot over the summer, some of the few people allowed to floo there, thanks to the immense security precautions, and they, Harry and Cedric had worked on tactics. Sometimes Harry's younger siblings and cousins had come to play with them and Fred and George were impressed by the younger kids' abilities in the air. Aaron was clearly chaser material, while the twins would give them a run for their money in silent coordination in a few years. They clearly had a twin bond too.

Aries Black would probably make a fantastic keeper one day and Juno had a good eye for finding the snitch. Of course, with the kids they hadn't played with the bludgers going; that would have been too dangerous and would have made Lily angry. And nobody was crazy enough to anger the redhead. Fred and George really didn't know why their mother made so many disparaging comments about Lily. She was really nice. Probably because the Potter kids were too independent in her eyes. They knew that their mother tended to baby all of them at home. It was the reason why Bill and Charlie had jumped at the opportunity to get jobs abroad.

The Gryffindor team walked out and took in the cheers of the students. Harry shook the hand of Marcus Flint and intentionally let his power show in his glowing green eyes. No reason to not go for a little intimidation. Perhaps that would remind the Slytherins to not cheat all the time. He could see the one year older boy flinch. The teams took off into the air on Madam Hooch's whistle and Angelina secured the quaffle.

After Gryffindor had scored three times, Slytherin tried cheating, but they weren't prepared when each attempt was directly met with a well-aimed bludger to either their torso or their head by one of the twins. Marcus Flint's attempt to block Alicia and knock her off her broom resulted in his getting hit over the head with a bludger and falling down instead of Alicia. He was out of the game for the rest of the time. The second Slytherin student to fall was their beater Bode. He got a broken shoulder after trying to hit Katie with his bat instead of hitting the bludger. He also couldn't continue. Harry made Terrence Higgs, the seeker of Slytherin fall for a Wronski Feint and plough into the ground. That made the match very easy for Gryffindor. With three of Slytherin's players down, Gryffindor could do what they wanted.

Once Harry felt somebody trying to hex his broom, but a strong push of magic to overpower the foreign magic, resulting in a loud snap, gave him back full control. He would have to investigate later who the bastard had been. The match went on for one and a half hours. With little interference, Gryffindor went on a scoring spree and Harry had no trouble waiting to catch the snitch until the score was really high in Gryffindor's favour. After all, he had no opposing seeker to worry about anymore, it was really embarrassing for a seeker to be knocked out by just one Wronski Feint, normally you should be able to get back up after the first one at least, hence why he could take his time and basically play fourth chaser. It was a tactic that was employed in professional Quidditch a lot when the opposing seeker wasn't really strong. Or knocked out like Higgs was right now. Finally, after two hours, Harry decided they had humiliated Slytherin enough and went after the snitch, which he had known the position of for twenty minutes now.

The Gryffindor stands erupted in cheers when he held the caught golden ball high over his head. The final score was 650:10 in Gryffindor's favour. Oliver later said he let that quaffle in out of pity for the two Slytherin chasers. This way they at least had a token goal. The rest of the team laughed hearing that. And it was true; Oliver had kept the hoops clean easily.

* * *

Time flew by fast and before the students really realised it Christmas was near. They had only one week of classes left. Professor Flitwick made good on his earlier promise to show the students how to charm gingerbread houses with supplies that the house elves in the kitchen had kindly supplied. Especially the first and second-years loved making their own gingerbread houses. Outside everything was covered in snow and many snowball fights had been held, some with the result that the overeager and not warmly enough clothed participants became patients of Madam Pomfrey to be given pepper-up potion for their colds.

Harry had overheard his brother and his friends talking about wanting to find out who Nicolas Flamel was. He wondered what they could want to know about the famous alchemist, but, as they didn't ask him, he didn't tell them. He only hoped they weren't up to something stupid or dangerous. Alchemy wasn't a field you played with. It could be dangerous without the proper knowledge and preparation. Well, this weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend and he planned to buy the last Christmas presents he needed.

* * *

Harry couldn't believe Hagrid. He had managed to win a dragon egg in a clearly rigged game of cards in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. Of all the stupid things to do. And he was stubborn about keeping it. How in hell would he be able to raise a dragon on the school grounds without endangering the students? Securing the hut against fire wasn't the problem. A few runic arrays on all walls and furniture were no problem. Hermione had been really surprised when he had waved off that concern of hers. But the dragon would grow fast. It couldn't stay. On top of it, too many already knew about it. Aaron and his group were no problem; they would keep their mouths shut, same for his own group of friends. But if this got out, Hagrid would be in major trouble.

* * *

It had taken two weeks of constant arguing to make Hagrid agree to send his dragon, which he had named Norbert, to the dragon preserve in Romania where Charlie Weasley worked. One main reason why he agreed was that Harry argued that it would be possible to arrange visits via portkey for him. Hagrid really lost all sense when dragons were involved. More than any other 'interesting creature'. Now they only needed to smuggle the dragon out without being noticed. Thankfully Harry had the invisibility cloak that his father had given him in his first year. It would enable them to sneak up to Astronomy tower without being noticed. He and Fred would do it, because somehow Norbert had managed to bite George and the bite was poisonous. Thus, he was out and getting Cedric all the way from the Hufflepuff common room, without something like Harry's cloak, would be too dangerous.

Hagrid had placed Norbert in a crate, which was bolstered on the inside to make the transport more comfortable for the young dragon. Aaron and his friends had wanted to help, but Harry had strictly forbidden it. He and Fred were enough and less likely to be caught, as they knew how to walk around the castle at night without being caught. The first-years didn't and would be more likely get caught and get detention for it. Harry charmed the crate featherlight and then he and Fred took it between them before Harry placed the cloak over them all. It wouldn't be possible for them to use it with more people at the same time much longer. Just in case both Fred and Harry used a disillusionment charm to hide suspicious feet or arms.

They made their way up to the tower as quickly as they dared. They had used silencing spells on their feet and scent erasing charms while they were outside, realising that they needed to make completely sure that they wouldn't be caught. When they reached the castle, they found that Ron and Draco Malfoy had got caught by Professor McGonagall out of bed. Malfoy insisted that Aaron had a dragon and Ron stated he had been in detention and on his way back to Gryffindor tower after polishing all the things in the trophy room, when he saw Malfoy wandering around suspiciously and had followed him to prevent whatever evil plan the blond had come up with.

McGonagall took twenty points from each of them and set detention. None of them had any right to be out of bounds after curfew. While Ron had a more legitimate reason, he should have headed straight to his common room after finishing detention. She took both boys with her. Harry and Fred could only silently shake their heads. They continued their way up to the tower where Charlie's friends were already waiting. They took the dragon and flew off. One problem less. He and Fred put the cloak back on but when they were close to the end of the staircase they heard Filch's voice. Harry pointed upwards and Fred nodded. They both whispered 'Wingardium Leviosa' and levitated each other, still under the cloak up on a beam of wood, waiting for Filch to be gone.

The levitation trick had saved their group's hide more than once. Nobody ever bothered looking up when searching for somebody.

* * *

Harry was busy studying for the end-of-year exams. He had managed to deter his brother and his friends from investigating the mystery about Nicolas Flamel by telling them that he was a famous alchemist and had created the only known Philosopher's Stone in today's existence. The younger ones had said that they suspected that the stone must be what was hidden at the third-floor corridor and that Fluffy was guarding it. Harry had told them clearly to not go there, because it was clearly a set-up for whatever reason. Aaron, trusting his older brother on the issue, had relented and with him his friends. They were kept too busy with repetition for their exams thankfully and the point hadn't been brought up again.

Harry was intent on making sure to keep his top-of-the-year position for another year. Though he had to shake his head at the franticness with which Hermione went about her study schedule. It became too much one evening so that he took the younger girl aside and told her to calm down and limit her study time to four hours each day, including the weekends, to not get a burn-out. Learning all you could was good and appreciated, but you had to make sure you didn't overdo things. The exams, while important, weren't like the OWLs that decided which jobs you could get in the future. She should concentrate on the important points and not learn each book by heart. He showed her how he structured his notes. Thanks to him being top of his year, she accepted the advice, much to the relief of her friends.

Even the Ravenclaws thought she overdid it and they were the ones studying most among the students. It led to her being a lot more relaxed and having more fun. She even agreed to have a girls' night with her dorm-mates one Saturday evening, something that was completely atypical for the intelligent girl. But it seemed to do her good.

* * *

 **Another one coming up tomorrow.**


	4. Obstacle Course

**Thanks for all the reviews you left already. It's nice to see that you like the story. And also thanks to all those that put this story onto their favourites lists. Happy reading.**

* * *

 **Obstacle Course**

After the last exams, Harry and his friends were planning a kind of celebratory prank. They had already discussed doing one and it would hit all students and the teachers this time. The group of four was sitting in an abandoned classroom fine-tuning their ideas. Fred and George would take care of placing the potion they would use into the food. The house elves normally didn't hinder them at all, as long as the prank was harmless. And they made sure to not hurt anybody. Harry and Cedric would place the trigger charms on all the seats in the Great Hall. It would take a long time to get everything done, but they would manage. Thanks to their planning, they returned late to their common rooms. Harry wanted to finish a letter to his parents, so the twins went up to their dorm alone. Harry didn't really notice that his brother and his friends were subdued and sitting in a corner. They also didn't notice him for that matter. He had chosen a table in a far corner of the room where he wouldn't be easily spotted.

The one thing he noticed was the sound of the portrait opening at half past eleven, way past curfew for all students, even the seventh years. He looked up and saw it close. He decided to investigate and followed the ones that had left. Something wasn't right here. Normally, the only ones out of beds after curfew were he and his friends and that only with the assistance of the invisibility cloak or disillusionment charms, which they had managed to perfect just this year. He took the cloak out of his pocket and put it on. A few charms to mask his scent and silence his feet and he was on his way. Thankfully he was the one keeping the Marauder's Map tonight. Normally, the twins had it, but he had wanted to look up a few passages for him and Cedric to use for their prank. He activated it and growled lowly seeing that the ones outside the common room were his brother and his group of friends.

How stupid were they? They were clearly on their way to the third-floor corridor. He thought he had made it abundantly clear that they shouldn't get close there. He was sure that Dumbledore had set it up as a test for Aaron. Why did they do that? Something was fishy. Aaron would normally have come to him with any problem or information he was worried about. Harry quickly used a few secret passages to get to the third floor. He watched as the group opened the door. He heard music play. So, whoever was after the stone had used the dragon egg and a drunk Hagrid to get the information how to get past Fluffy. Harry knew the dog, had actually played with it when it had been a puppy. He heard soft voices and a heavy door being opened.

Then the music suddenly stopped and after some seconds he heard barks. He quickly went forward. Fluffy was seemingly snapping at somebody who had jumped through the trap-door. Well, only one way to go after them. Harry started singing. Not many knew it, but Harry had inherited the gift of voice magic from his great-grandmother Undine Potter nee Zukis, a Greek witch whom his great-grandfather Hadrian had fallen in love with during an expedition for rare plants. His great-grandfather had been a Herbology and Potions master and had travelled the world to find high quality ingredients for his potions. He had developed at least fifteen new potions in his time. Harry's great-grandmother had been the great-granddaughter of a full-blooded siren and inherited her ability to charm people and creatures with her beautiful voice.

Now Harry lulled Fluffy to sleep and went after his brother and his friends down the trap door. He levitated himself down to not be caught in whatever trap there might be. He quickly saw what the matter was. He heard Neville say something about Devil's Snare. Really, while the plant was dangerous, there were easy counters and Neville was already performing one of them by conjuring fire using the incendio charm. He landed near the door of the room. He had one look at the three and noticed that they had an absent look on their faces. That looked like a confundus charm. He took off his invisibility cloak and hit them all with a finite incantatem charm.

They blinked and looked at him confused.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" Aaron asked.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that, Aaron? I thought we had agreed upon you not going anywhere near this corridor. It is clearly a set-up, probably by Professor Dumbledore to test you. The first two obstacles were way too easy to get past. Really, Devil's Snare and Fluffy? Every idiot can look up that a Cerberus is weak to music and the plant is part of the first-year curriculum," Harry commented.

"Uh, I don't really know why, but it seemed really important that we came here. We tried telling Professor McGonagall that the Stone was in danger, but she didn't believe us. And after Ron told us what he and Malfoy had seen in the Forbidden Forest during their detention with Hagrid, we were worried that Voldemort was trying to get the stone to come back," Aaron explained.

"That's right. Aaron realised that Hagrid had slipped up while being drunk on how you could get past Fluffy using music, when he thought how strange it was that somebody baited Hagrid with a dragon egg while they are illegal to have," Hermione added.

"We think that Snape is using the fact that Professor Dumbledore is away tonight to have a go at the stone," Neville finished.

"Urgh. You have really been hit hard with the confundus charm. First, Snape isn't the culprit, it's probably Quirrell," Harry stated to the complete disbelief of the three first-years, "Sure, Snape is an arse, no question there, and a bully on top, but he was a spy for the light in the last war. Snape's whole freedom depends on staying under Dumbledore's protection. And face it; he would probably be capable enough to create his own Philosopher's Stone if he invested a few years into learning Alchemy, as it is based on Potions. Snape is a genius on par with Mum; he only is a miserable git that has no patience to teach properly. That train of thought is a dead end. With him having 'betrayed' Voldemort, he wouldn't be the one he would approach, not to mention that Snape is under constant watch and couldn't have managed to help him, even if all of his actions were a trick," Harry explained.

His parents had explained Snape's role in the war to him last summer to be aware of things when Aaron went to Hogwarts.

"Quirrell is as fake as he can be. You couldn't notice that, as you haven't seen him before, but his stutter is made up. It just disguises his threat level. He looks different than when he was still the Muggle Studies teacher. Why he would help Voldemort I don't know, but Uncle Sirius is already investigating that part," He explained.

"Uncle Sirius is involved?" Aaron asked surprised.

"I keep Mum and Dad informed on what goes on at school regularly and they forward all relevant parts to Uncle Sirius. As head auror he has way more possibilities to investigate things than we have. They have known that something is up since the first day of school, when Dumbledore gave that warning," Harry informed the three.

"So, what are we going to do now? The harp proves that somebody is after the stone," Hermione asked.

Harry pondered the argument. It was valid, but he wouldn't want three first-years to be in that much danger.

"We can't allow anybody to get the stone and give it to Voldemort!" Aaron insisted.

"I know that. But we are in over our heads here. Especially you three. You have only one year of real magical training. I wonder why Professor McGonagall didn't act on your warning, but I will bring that up later with Uncle Sirius. What we need here is backup," Harry concentrated and then whispered into his wand, "Expecto Patronum."

From the tip of his wand a silver-white owl appeared that looked a lot like Hedwig. It soared upwards and back through the trapdoor.

"Alright, that patronus will alarm Uncle Sirius to send a group of aurors to help with the threat. What we will do is see what the next obstacle is and then I will decide how we proceed. It's not the smartest idea to stay in a room with Devil's Snare," Harry told them, "You will listen to my instructions without hesitation. This is no game, this is very serious. I don't know why you thought you had a chance against an adult wizard, least of all Snape, but I will blame the confundus charm for that. The most we will probably be able to do is stalling Quirrell until help arrives. I will leave notes for those coming after us to know what to do for whatever obstacle we face."

Harry proceeded making a small note, which he formed into a paper plane, for Fluffy, which he sent up through the trapdoor. Then he left another paper plane hovering above the Devil's Snare. His uncle would know to simply summon them to get the information. There was no need to hide their trail after all.

"The next part is that I will disillusion you all. That way you aren't as easy a target as you are now. The charm will let you blend in with your surroundings, so as long as you don't make too much noise you will not be noticed," Harry told them and tapped each onto the head with his wand while saying the incantation.

"Alright, I will go through the door first and you will slowly follow me when I give you the all clear," Harry instructed and opened the door.

So far there didn't seem to anything dangerous in there. He walked forward and looked around. He waved the three first-years inside. Over them something was fluttering. Harry quickly identified it as keys with wings. He saw that there was another door in the room, for which he would probably need one of the keys. He walked a few steps forward, but the keys didn't react. So they weren't charmed to go after intruders. That helped. He inspected the lock and got an idea how the key had to look like.

"Really, that's far too easy. If I hadn't been convinced that this was a test for you, Aaron, I would be now," Harry commented.

"Why?" Aaron asked.

"Because you only have to hunt down a very distinctive key to fit into this lock. There is no charm on the brooms over there to hinder you, the keys aren't attacking automatically and any fourth-year could solve this even easier than that," Harry answered, "Accio old bronze key."

A certain key struggled in the air, but was forced down towards Harry. The key had a bended wing already. Harry caught it and put it into the lock. He turned it and opened the door. He pinned the key to the wall with a sticking charm and left another note. At this rate, they would be at the stone before the backup could be here.

The next room was revealed to be a giant chess board. Harry had to shake his head. This whole set-up screamed test and manipulation. Fluffy could be bypassed by getting Hagrid to slip up, which wasn't difficult at all, then the Devil's Snare, which was easy for a Herbology prodigy like Neville, the flying keys, the Potters had always been great flyers and now a chess set, which indicated why Ron Weasley had constantly annoyed Aaron to become his friend. Chess was about the only thing Ron was good at. And it wasn't even necessary to solve this part. Harry simply levitated one of the younger ones after the other over the chess set and then repeated the process on himself. Really, these tasks were too easy for somebody who had only a few years of magical education.

Harry left another paper plane, hoping that his uncle would come soon. If they continued at this rate, the stone would be in Quirrell's hands before they could stall him any. What the hell was Dumbledore thinking, making the obstacles this easy?

The next room held a knocked-out troll, this one even larger than the one on Halloween, Hermione seemed to remember that one as well.

"There you have your proof that Quirrell is our culprit. This is his obstacle, so it is easy to deduct that he let the troll in on Halloween to cause a distraction to be able to get the stone," Harry said shaking his head.

The younger ones were silent. They hadn't really believed Harry before, but this was hard to deny. The next room was interesting. As soon as they entered, purple fire erupted behind them and black fire in front of them, blocking both exits of the room. In the middle stood a row of bottles on a table with a piece of parchment lying next to them. Harry walked over and read what was written on it. He grinned. This would surely stump a lot of wizards, but not him. It paid off to have a genius muggleborn mother. He quickly puzzled the clues out.

"Hm, the smallest bottle lets you go through the black flames, this one," he pointed at it, "lets you go through the purple flames and back to the room with the troll. I think it is safe to say that this room is the safest we can get for now. I will take the poison bottles, in case I can use them in a fight. I may be able to poison Quirrell to weaken him. Now the content of the bottle isn't enough for all of us to go forward and we still have no sign from the back-up I called. That is troubling. We have been here for about fifteen minutes now and with my instructions Uncle Sirius should at least already be past the devil's snare, but we can't hear anything," Harry pondered. If only he knew what was going on at the surface.

* * *

Sirius was furiously arguing with McGonagall about the call for help that Harry had sent. They were wasting time with her arguing that the stone was well-protected and that it had to be a mistake.

"Now listen to me, Minerva. Harry doesn't send off patronus messengers without a damn good reason. He is mature enough to not play pranks on things this serious. I have known that Dumbledore keeps a Philosopher's Stone here at the school as bait for months, but I didn't act, because Harry promised to keep the students safe. And, so far, that worked, but somebody put a bloody confundus charm on Aaron and his friends to make them go down there. I will go and help my godson and if I need to stun you to do so, I will," Sirius promised glaring at her.

"You don't want me to believe that ridiculous tale, Sirius? Even during your time at school your excuses for making trouble were better," McGonagall scoffed, only to be hit with a stunner.

"Dawlish, make sure she is comfortable. Levitate her to her office or the hospital wing, I don't care. The rest follow me, we are going to help the kids," Sirius commanded with all the authority coming from his position. He only hoped that they would be in time.

* * *

Harry stared down Quirrell. He had dodged a charm that would have bound him with ropes. Quirrell was busy gloating that Voldemort would come back with his help and that he would be rewarded beyond all imagination. Brainwashed, Harry deduced.

Aaron, who had come with him into the room, was trying to keep hidden as well as he could, edging closer to the mirror that stood in the middle of the room. The stone was inside the mirror, but so far Quirrell hadn't managed to get it out. Perhaps if he was faster, he could get the stone and keep it safe. After all, Quirrell was concentrating on Harry and didn't know that he was there. Aaron looked into the mirror. The one thing that was on his mind was finding the stone and protecting it from Quirrell. To his surprise his reflection winked at him and pulled the stone out of his pocket. Then he placed it inside again and Aaron could feel the weight in his pocket.

Harry was now duelling Quirrell seriously. If the bastard thought it would be easy to defeat him, he had another thing coming. Harry wasn't at the level most other fourth-years were. He had got excellent training in duelling from the best teachers his parents could find, Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus, Mad-Eye Moody and his parents themselves. After all, they had faced Voldemort himself several times and had lived to tell the tale. And if you thought about the level the fourth-years were at, thanks to lousy teachers, Harry was more like a NEWT graduate. He could go toe-to-toe with rookie aurors already and win, because he was better than them. Only the personal apprentices of veteran aurors would be a challenge for him.

Each summer, Christmas and Easter break he would train four hours each day learning advanced magic far beyond what his classmates would learn at Hogwarts. His parents knew that Voldemort wasn't truly gone. Hence why, they did all they could to ensure that their children wouldn't be easy targets.

Spell over spell Harry threw at Quirrell, not giving him any reprieve. Harry would never let him help Voldemort getting a body back. Suddenly Quirrell grabbed his head and Harry used that to stun him and bind him in ropes. Something was wrong. That had been too easy. And Harry was proven right. A black cloud-like wraith emerged from the fallen form of Quirrell.

"Again, you stop me, Harry Potter. Like your pesky grandmother nearly eleven years ago," Voldemort sneered, "I will not forget your continued interference with my plans."

"I will do all I can to protect my family and friends from the likes of you, Voldemort," Harry declared.

Aaron wondered what Voldemort meant with saying Harry had interfered before.

"You are a danger, Harry Potter, and I will deal with you soon. While you aren't the one who banished me from my body, it was your power that enabled your little brother to survive my curse. Don't think I forgot it!" Voldemort exclaimed hatefully.

"And I will do so again and again until you are truly dead and believe me, I will find a way!" Harry promised fiercely.

Aaron was shocked seeing the power surrounding his brother. He knew that Harry was powerful, but not this much. And Harry's power had been what had ensured that he survived the killing curse? What was going on? He saw that Voldemort's wraith was trying to attack Harry, but something stopped him, a kind of shield of pure white energy.

"You couldn't get past my shield when I was four, what makes you think you could do so once I was fourteen?" Harry asked his eyes glowing with power.

"The last word hasn't been spoken, Harry Potter, I will be back!" Voldemort promised and shot through the door, and finally Aaron heard the aurors arriving, shouting and shooting spells at the wraith probably.

"Harry? What did you talk about?" Aaron asked confused.

Harry sighed. It was probably time to confess a few things to his brother.

"The story you know about that Halloween night in 1981 isn't complete, Aaron. I knew the moment that Dumbledore asked me what exactly happened, when I awoke the next day, that I couldn't trust him, so I kept some things for me until I could tell Mum and Dad, when we were alone with them again. That was when we moved to Potter Manor. Grandma gave both of us a certain protection. Though each of us got a different one. You got the pure protection of her sacrifice that she willingly died to protect your life, refusing to step out of harms' way. I got the power of the protector. While I have a small part of the protection against Voldemort that you have, I also got something else.

"Grandma made me your guardian angel in a way. She said she was sure that Voldemort would one day find a way to overcome what she did for you and then you would need somebody who could protect you. She knew that the prophecy meant you; she could see things others couldn't. I think Jasmine has inherited a bit of that ability with how she often looks at me. To make sure that you could one day fulfil the burden that destiny placed on your shoulders, you needed to have someone who could help you and protect you until you were ready. That someone is me. It was easy to give me that position, as I already had always looked out for you.

"You are my little brother and our parents always stressed that family needed to hold together. 'Family over all' is the Potter family motto. Grandma, in the time that Grandpa bought with his furious fight against Voldemort, placed runes on both of us and used an ancient spell that Mum and Dad couldn't figure out to this day. When Voldemort fired his killing curse at you, because he wanted to see me suffer over your death, I called upon all my power and it created a powerful white shield around you. Your own magic reacted and joined mine and you returned the curse to Voldemort.

"There was a small cloud of black smoke that tried to get close to you, but my shield prevented it. It also stopped the smoke from going into me, which it tried next. It then dissolved into nothing when it didn't find a living host. I don't know anything after that, because I fell unconscious from magical exhaustion. Next thing I knew was Dumbledore trying to pry information from me. He clearly didn't care for my state of mind, that I had just seen Voldemort kill grandma in front of me and his attempt to kill you. That's why I immediately disliked him back then. It didn't change any since I started Hogwarts. I don't think he is truly evil, but he has his own agenda and it isn't to my advantage. Neither to yours, which is why Mum and Dad kept you from him while you grew up," Harry ended his lengthy explanation and saw that his Uncle Sirius finally had arrived.

"Harry, Aaron, I'm so glad that you two are okay," Sirius exclaimed.

"Hi, Uncle Sirius. Glad to see you came, though you are really late," Harry commented.

"Blasted Professor McGonagall didn't want to let us through. I had to stun her to get here at all. The notes were good thinking, they saved us a lot of time. But now tell me what you were doing here," Sirius ordered, looking at Quirrell.

"Well, it started with me noticing that somebody had left Gryffindor tower after curfew," Harry started the story and with a few additions from Aaron Sirius got the whole story.

He was furious hearing that four students had gone through the obstacles that easily and even more that Aaron had managed to get the Philosopher's Stone from the mirror that easily. He was livid when he found out what the mirror really was.

"What the hell is a dark artefact like that doing under a school full of children? The Mirror of Erised has killed dozens of witches and wizards in its history!" Sirius ranted.

"That's the Mirror of Erised?" Harry asked shocked, "I thought it had been destroyed in 1899 in that fire."

"I thought so too, but the inscription is clear. I will have some serious words with Dumbledore about this. We sadly won't be able to tell who put Aaron and his friends under the confundus charm, it's been too long, but I will also mention it in my discussion about security here at school. Though I think calling your parents for that would be even better," Sirius said grinning.

"You only want to see Mum laying into the headmaster again," Harry stated smirking.

"Can you think of anybody who would scare him more?" Sirius asked back.

"Not really and he definitely deserves it, but you should invite the other four teachers that helped with the defences. Flitwick, Snape, Sprout and McGonagall. The obstacles were way too easy to overcome. Not to mention that three first-years could have got through this mess easily with investing a bit of time," Harry pointed out.

"Good idea, Harry. I will do so. Get the three others back to Gryffindor Tower. I will tell you in the morning how it went," Sirius promised and Harry nodded, leading Aaron out of the room with the mirror.

They met Neville and Hermione in the room with the potions, the fires had been dealt with by the aurors already, and they went back to the tower to get some sleep.

* * *

 **Okay, only one chapter more to go. Till tomorrow.**


	5. Why You Should be Afraid of Lily Potter

**Why You Should be Afraid of Lily Potter**

Dumbledore for one of the few times in his life was afraid, really afraid. In front of him Lily Potter was fuming about the incident that had taken place an hour before. He frowned, thinking how his plan had backfired again. Blasted Harry Potter. He had finally managed to put Aaron and his friends under a confundus charm that would lead them into the obstacle course he had the other teachers prepare before the year started. He knew that Quirrell would strike that night, after he got the letter to come to the Ministry of Magic. He had hit the three when they had enjoyed their day outside under the tree.

It had been really simple. He had left the castle, supposedly following the letter; of course, his taking a broom was a calculated move to give Aaron the time to be tested through the obstacles. It would have worked out perfectly, with him stepping in at the last moment after Aaron had faced Voldemort and would finally be much more open for his guidance. But, again, Harry Potter had caused one of his plans to fail. First, he had taken over saving Hermione Granger from the troll, sending his little brother to safety. He had thought Aaron would be the one to save the girl, proving his Gryffindor traits and his skills. Only because of that he hadn't reacted when the wards informed him of the troll entering the castle.

Then Harry had clearly forbidden Aaron and his friends to go after the Philosopher's Stone, because it reeked of a trap and they weren't prepared for that. Not to mention that it would be stupid to dance to the tune the one setting the trap had chosen. Then Hagrid's dragon. Of course, he had known about it, but perhaps this time Aaron, as he and his friends had been the ones to find out about it first, would have been the heroes. But no, Harry and Fred Weasley had safely got the dragon away and even avoided being caught out of bed. How they had done that he didn't know, but it was really annoying. Hence why, in the end, he had needed to charm the three first-years to see his plan succeed.

Only for Harry Potter to again interfere and take over the command of the rescue mission. From what Sirius had told them all, Harry had outduelled Quirrell before the black mist that was Voldemort had risen from the now dead man's body. He hadn't thought that Quirrell would be that stupid to share his body with a parasitic wraith. It had been a death sentence from the start. All of his carefully planned obstacles hadn't stood a chance in the face of Harry Potter. He had circumvented most of them and kept the first-years out of harm's way. The boy was a problem, but right now he couldn't do anything about it.

He had to worry about himself in the face of the most powerful witch of her generation, Lily Potter. He was sure if he said one wrong word, he would be hexed badly and he knew that she was nobody you took lightly. She was fast and unpredictable with her wand. While he might have more raw power, she had speed and deviousness on her side. That was how she had beaten Bellatrix Lestrange. And when her children were in danger, she became worse than a lioness.

"I want answers, Albus and I want them now!" Lily demanded, "So far, my fourteen years old son had to protect a first-year girl from a mountain troll, stop his younger brother and his friends being hurt by an obstacle course under a freaking school full of children and in the end, duel his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher to the death. More, my eleven years old son and his friends were put under a confundus charm to even enter the place, where you kept a dangerous magical artefact hidden - without so much as a ward to keep out the students. Are you out of your mind?"

"Lily, I assure you the students were safe. I warned them about not going into the corridor," Dumbledore tried to appease her which obviously didn't work because she blew up hearing that.

Lily quickly fired several spells at Dumbledore, which he only barely managed to shield against, though it didn't matter to her, because she then started to furiously fight and more and more spells got past his shield. In the end his wand sailed into her hand and he felt utterly humiliated. More, he felt the allegiance of the Elder Wand change to Lily. This couldn't be true; he had fought so hard for that wand. Then his body ached and he realised that he had been hit with a powerful stinging charm that targeted large areas when it hit.

"You warned them? They are children! Curious children that would go there simply to satisfy their curiosity about just what was so dangerous about that place. You have been a teacher most of your life. Are you really idiotic enough to not realise that if you forbid something while making it sound interesting and mysterious they would listen to you? That's encouraging them! You should have told them you had to do maintenance works and therefore warded the corridor off to prevent accidents. And a simply age line would have done the trick. You have few eighteen year olds here, therefore setting it to that age would have worked perfectly. Building works aren't interesting for seventh years. And a simple locking charm that can be undone by _alohomora_ is in no way sufficient to secure a door behind which a giant Cerberus is kept!" Lily shouted.

James and Sirius wisely kept to the back. They knew that it was dangerous to get between Lily and her target. They were just glad that none of them was said target. James could only admire how sexy his wife looked getting so worked up. He also knew that he would need to calm her down once they were back home. It would be a long night. The last time she had been in such a mood the twins had been conceived. Not that he minded that in the least.

"I will tell you what you will do in the future. You will stop placing the students in danger. You will inform the parents like you are obliged to do in case there is a general danger in the castle and that definition is to be determined by the charter and not your ideas or worse Hagrid's. He is nice and all, but you can't seriously let him play with all the really dangerous creatures he likes. He has to finally realise that not everybody has his toughness to deal with them."

James got the distinct impression that Harry would get an earful over his involvement with Hagrid's dragon. How she had found out he didn't know. It had been a coincidence that he had found out, but Hagrid had been so depressed over having to let the dragon go that he had drunk a lot and James had been at the pub that evening and coerced the truth out of Hagrid. He knew that Harry and his group were regularly over at Hagrid's hut. They would definitely want to help Hagrid get out of that mess. While he was proud of his son for helping Hagrid, he also knew that a dragon, even a baby, was really dangerous.

He hadn't told Lily anything, not wanting to get Harry in trouble. His plan had been to take Harry aside after the school year was over and talk about acceptable risks and non-acceptable ones. Next to giving his son 'The Talk'. Harry was turning fifteen this summer and it was high time for him to tell him all about sex. It would be embarrassing, but they would get through that. James knew that Harry was attracting a lot of female attention with his good looks and his talent.

Harry was the youngest Quidditch player in a century, getting on the Gryffindor team at age eleven, youngest captain in seven decades and overall top student of his year. On top of that he was the heir of the Potter family and they were an ancient and noble house. Whatever girl managed to win Harry's heart would become the future Lady Potter. While the younger girls dreamed of marrying Aaron because he was the Boy-Who-Lived, the older ones dreamed of Harry or, for some, of his best friend Cedric Diggory. The two would be major heartbreakers in the future if they weren't already. So far, he hadn't heard about any girlfriends, but that was only a question of time.

"Next point, you will replace Binns as the History teacher. It's a disgrace that he still teaches with how unable he is of teaching the children anything. He is boring as hell and ninety-nine per cent of the children are unable to take in anything he says. Next you will hire a competent Defence teacher next year. The level of the students in that class is so low it is embarrassing. I have talked to Amelia recently over tea and she complains horribly about the low scores Hogwarts graduates get in Defence and Potions when they test for auror positions. The same is true for healers at St. Mungo's. I will personally give Severus a piece of my mind about what he calls teaching.

"Additionally, I will tell Minerva what I think of her delaying help for my sons in that insane obstacle course you came up with. From what Sirius told us it was so easy that a first-year would have got through. I can't prove yet that you set that thing up to test my son in some crazy idea of yours, but Merlin have mercy on you if you did, because I won't!" Lily ended her rant and stormed out of the office, probably towards her next target, not bothering with returning the wand to Dumbledore.

James really had to suppress a snicker seeing Dumbledore's stumped face. It was really incredible how his wife tore into the supposed strongest wizard alive. And right now, Albus Dumbledore seemed utterly defeated. They would have to watch to see how this developed. He was now more secure than ever in his decision to not follow Albus Dumbledore's lead anymore.

* * *

Harry sat in front of his mother and knew he was in trouble. Her look was very clear in that. He wondered what exactly she was blaming him for. He had done some things she wouldn't approve of this year, he would freely admit that, but nothing he thought would cause that look on her face. He had after all only gone to the third-floor corridor to save Aaron, Neville and Hermione, which he didn't think he could be blamed for.

"So, Harry James," she started, making Harry really worried. If she used his middle name, he was in serious trouble, he knew that from experience, "What can you tell me in your defence for your involvement in that dangerous act?" Lily asked sternly.

Harry knew that coming clean was the only way to avoid worse, but he really didn't know what she meant. None of his pranks had been dangerous and they didn't go too far either. It wasn't outright bullying but teaching those that did the bullying a lesson. His group never played any prank that was dangerous to their target, only embarrassing.

"Uhm, could you tell me which incident you are referring to, Mum? I somehow don't think going after Aaron, Neville and Hermione to save them is what has you this upset. You know I would never have let him go through something like that on his own and I was sure I had deterred him from going there pointing out a potential trap. Which was right, because he had been confunded into going there," Harry commented.

"No, you are right, that isn't what has me that upset, even if I don't like at all that you were in that danger. You did what was needed in that situation and I don't blame you but others for that. I am actually proud how you acted in that situation. Now think about what you did this year what was dangerous, really dangerous, and I don't include your night-time wanderings to play pranks on bullies in that. That's simple stupidity, but I blame your father for inspiring that in you," Lily replied.

Harry thought hard. What the hell had he done that had been dangerous enough to make his Mum this upset with him? He went over all the things that happened this year and his mind came to a screeching halt thinking about Norbert. Shit, how did she find out about that? He looked up and saw that she noticed that he had realised what she was upset about. This was not good. He sighted, better to get this over with.

"I guess you mean my involvement with helping Hagrid to get rid of his baby dragon," Harry stated resigned.

"Indeed. I am glad to see you realise now how foolish that was. A dragon is extremely dangerous, even as a baby," She declared, glaring at him, making him fell five years old again, when she had caught him climbing onto a bookshelf to get a cookie that she had taken away and warded against magic because she didn't want him to eat sweets when dinner was only half an hour away, "What were you thinking, Harry? You could have been hurt, poisoned, burnt and in real trouble if the Ministry found out about it. Keeping a dragon outside a preserve is illegal for a good reason."

Harry cringed hearing that. He knew that all, but Hagrid was his friend.

"I simply didn't want Hagrid to be in trouble. You know how he is; he loves all creatures, but especially the dangerous ones. We had to get the dragon somewhere safe before it became too big to be hidden and too violent to be controlled. We needed a long time for Hagrid to finally see reason. Fred and George suggested getting the dragon to Charlie, as he works with dragons. But we couldn't ask any of the teachers for help, because that would have meant having Dumbledore involved. And he would have manipulated things in his favour.

"As Aaron and his friends also knew about the dragon, the best I could do was taking charge of the operation myself. Cedric and I brewed a potion that would keep the dragon asleep during the journey. And as I had Dad's invisibility cloak, we knew we could manage to get Norbert out without being caught. The one part that didn't work out properly was George being bit by the dragon, but Madam Pomfrey didn't ask many questions when he said that it had happened while experimenting with stuff for new prank items.

"She knows that we do that regularly so it wasn't unbelievable. And as we regularly help her with stocking up on potions that she needs for the hospital wing, she is quite fond of us when we really mess up a bit with our pranks," Harry told the story, "Fred and I smuggled the crate with the dragon up to Astronomy Tower where some friends of Charlie took it with them on brooms. Fred and I avoided being caught by Filch with one of our tricks and then returned to Gryffindor Tower without anyone being the wiser."

Lily had a hard time listening. Her son had brewed a potion strong enough to keep a dragon asleep? How? And then pointing out that if he had asked the teachers for help Dumbledore would have manipulated things. She knew that those points were valid. She was surprised hearing that the group had won the favour of Madam Pomfrey by helping her with supplying the hospital wing, which she knew Harry could do easily with the knowledge he got from assisting her in her lab since he had been eight years old. She pinched the bridge of her nose. It was difficult to find an appropriate punishment for Harry. He had only done it to help a friend, something she and James had taught him to do. He also didn't want to involve Dumbledore, thanks to their warnings of the man and his manipulations. Those were clearly mitigating circumstances. What to do now, what to do?

"There are mitigating circumstances here that I will take into consideration. You will still be punished. So, for the first four weeks of the summer break you will take over the teaching of your younger siblings in Potions and Defence in the mornings. And I want a complete written list of the potions you can brew, including the ones you and your friends came up with," She started.

Harry nodded, knowing it could have been worse.

"Next to that you will clean the horses' stables at the manor without magic. That will be all, but you are really lucky that I know how valid your comments about Dumbledore are," She said.

"Yes, Mum," Harry agreed, not wanting to anger her more.

* * *

The coming weeks were hard on Harry, but he soldiered on. Cleaning up the stables took him and Aaron, who had volunteered to help after hearing why Harry had been punished, half a day. Thankfully there weren't that many horses on the grounds of Potter Manor, only four, as their mother couldn't ride a horse and Aaron wasn't that fond of the sport. Harry and the twins were the ones who were seen regularly on the back of a horse to go into the woods around the manor. Their father also liked taking relaxing rides from time to time. With how big the grounds were, they could go for an hour before reaching any place where muggles could get to them. The one problem was that usually the stables were only cleaned once every two months.

The horses and the house elves didn't get along well, so the Potters took care of the horses themselves and cleaning every two months was all that fitted into the schedule of them. Even with magic James needed an hour to get everything done for the twins to put fresh straw into the boxes. Harry was doing the major work of heaving the dung out of the boxes with a pitchfork and Aaron carted it off to the dung heap using two carts. By using two they could win time. Harry was really glad for his physical fitness now, as cleaning the stables was hard work. After finally finishing, he took a hot shower to get rid of the smell that cleaning the stables always brought with it. The afternoon he used to get a good part of his summer homework done. He had the habit to get it over with early on to have more time for the activities he liked and as he was somewhat restricted in what he did for the first four weeks he could as well do his school work.

He had told Fred and George about his punishment and they had felt for him. They were stuck at the Burrow during the holidays as well, as their mother didn't approve of their friends. She wasn't happy at all that Ron had failed to get closer to Aaron though, which was hypocritical, as Harry was Aaron's brother, and they therefore had the same parents and were raised the same. They also warned Harry that their sister Ginny, who would start Hogwarts next year, had a major crush on Aaron from all the Boy-Who-Lived stories she had been told as a child.

Harry didn't look forward to that mess next year, but hey, that was part of being an older brother. Looking out for your siblings and making sure they didn't get into things way over their heads. And he didn't doubt that the next year would be much different to this one.

* * *

 **And that's it for this story. There might be a sequel in the future, but for now this story is finished. Thank you all for your reviews and I hope that I will be back for more regular writing in the new year, though don't expect anything before the end of February, when the chemo therapy will be finished.**

 **I hope everybody has a good start for the new year 2017.**


	6. Announcement

Announcement!

Hi everybody. This story now has a sequel. It's this year's Christmas Story and I will post it from Christmas Eve on every day until all chapters are up.

The sequel is called: **Older Brother, Tournament Trials**

Merry Christmas, everybody!

White Angel


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